//------------------------------// // chapter 11 part 2 // Story: Field trip... // by More Dakka //------------------------------// …. ‘What does a blind person see?’ … That question always did sound stupid to Toph. As far as she was concerned, blind was everyone else’s dumb label for her because she couldn’t see- whatever that meant. Yet, despite her father’s constant efforts to keep his daughter's ‘vulnerability’ a secret, the wealth of her family’s estate always meant the question found its way to her ear- and always with a new voice to carry it.   Sometimes the voice belonged to a new house maid- who’d stumbled across her room and found their curiosity piqued at the sight of a young girl sitting alone without a single wisp of light in there with her. Other times, it was one of the many new babysitters her father all but tied her to in the guise of keeping her out of trouble. Granted, they always came under a different title; tutors, helpers…. He could call them whatever he wanted, but it didn’t matter to Toph- because, to her they were nothing more than wardens. There to keep her in and keep the world out. Even her first real friends had asked her that question the first time they’d found themselves with nothing to do but soak in the dull crackle of a lonely campfire…Well, actually Sokka asked it- which was something that didn’t really surprise her in hindsight now that she had gotten to know him. But at the time, she couldn’t help but feel an uneasy silence creeping in as the people who she considered her first real chance of having friends waited expectantly for her answer. Strangely, unlike the many times she had been asked before, when she heard the question this time, a peculiar gnawing feeling inside her almost drove Toph to try and offer an answer- after all, it’s something a friend would do, right? It was just a shame that her patience for that particular question had withered and died long ago, and all Aang, Katara and Sokka’s standing as possible friends had earned them was a polite (if only by her standards) suggestion to change the topic.   Unfortunately, Sokka wasn’t like a maid or ‘babysitter’ working for her father, and so his curiosity wasn’t so easily discarded. But, unlike those maids, Toph didn’t really have to worry about Sokka repeating what she said to her father, and seeing as it was Sokka who asked, a particularly fitting answer came to mind, and filled her voice with a particularly haughty air. ‘Well, what does your bending feel like?’ She’d always found it a little odd how the side of her mouth would always tense up a little on its own accord whenever she found something amusing, or how it would loosen when something perplexed her. And seeing as the others had a word for it ‘smirk’ she couldn’t help but feel an odd spark odd spark of warmth fill her chest whenever she tries to imagine what Sokka’s faces must have felt like in the silence that followed. It was just a shame Katara had to go and ruin the moment. Granted, she did wind up learning a little more from Katara’s ensuing rant then she ever did from people who were afraid for their future state of employment, not enough to make it worth having her voice grate at her ears for as long as it did, but just enough to make it less annoying then it could have been without it. Apparently, other people ‘see’ something called ‘black’ when they close their eyes, and Katara assumed that Toph being blind meant that see must ‘see’ that ‘black’ all of the time. She’d been really, really adamant about that part…   But to Toph the point was entirely mute, how could she say she sees ‘black’ when she didn’t even know what that was? It was just a shame Katara couldn’t seem to ‘see’ that... her brother could, and accepted the answer with quiet reflection, but for some reason, Katara just couldn’t.   In the end -that meaning another twenty minutes of grinding her teeth In the hopes of tuning out her voice- Toph simply settled for offering the same speech she’d offered Aang when they came to a ‘truce’ and tried to explain to them all how she sees with her feet. She knew it was a dodge. In fact she often wondered why no one ever questioned how she could make the assertion that she ‘sees with her feet’ if she’d never seen anything to begin with. But the real truth was more poignant to her then some straightforward comparison. The phrase ‘seeing with her feet’ masked its true meaning along with its true nature. It had a deeper meaning to Toph, just like the word ‘seeing’ itself. She’d often heard the workers exchange a private -at least they thought the hallway outside of her door was private- few words after leaving her room, and in those words she’d often hear how horrible they imagined life must be without sight, and how brave she was to face it like she does. Sometimes it came with a moment of sympathetic reverence as they listed all the things they had ‘seen’ in their life that she would go without; some grand piece of ‘scenery’ that had taken their breath away, or even simply the faces of their own parents. That last one always hurt more than she would ever let on, but there is one thing they always miss which probably hurt more… Being born blind means you’re not only cut off from a portion of the world, but also the words that are born of it. Words that people would use so frivolously are nothing but gibberish to you and exist as nothing but a testament to something you can never really truly morn. How could you if you didn’t even know what it is you’ve never had? All you knew was that you didn’t know. In many of her most private moments, she’d often thought about what she would give just for one fleeting glimpse at the world, if only to know what it was she was missing so she could tell herself that it wasn’t worth fretting over. And in her weakest moment she’d even offered a deal to the spirits, one of her feet for one working eye… or even just her favourite picking toe if she could only know what the difference was between a ‘red’ thing and a ‘blue’ thing. She chose the phrase ‘seeing with her feet’ because the word ‘seeing’ meant nothing to her but to say ‘we have something that you don’t’. But when she finally earned it, she finally had something she could do that they couldn’t. Something that they could never understand no matter how much they wanted to… But really, in the end, that was kind of the problem. No one could understand…. She always thought she was lucky that rumble six came along when it did. The roar of the crowd as they cheered her first victory is something she will always carry with her… it’s definably lighter than the gold she had to bribe the ring owner with to get In the ring to begin with. But she’d heard the roar of approval, and the taste was sweeter than sugar, itself. Even her nickname made them cheer louder, and for once, she wasn’t ashamed to wear that label. Then Twinkle Toes came along, with his ‘rubbish’ about ‘magic swamps’ and ‘listening to the earth’. The though was still weird to her. If someone had ever said she would wind up being the avatar's Earthbending teacher, Toph would have simply walked away while making a mental note to keep anything sharp away from them. And yet there she was, on the back of a flying bison imagining her house getting further and further away… while also rubbing her head and planning how she would get Sokka back for the welt. Aang even got her to teach him how to see with his feet. She was against the idea at first, but that reservation didn’t service the three days of listening to him blather on, and on, and on, and on so she gave in. After all, she was there because he wanted the best after all and she couldn’t fault that…. at least that’s what she told herself. She’d even made the lesson as simple as she could for him. Just wear a blindfold for a week and ‘listen to the earth’. Well, that was the lesson, but after just two days in, the – as Toph put it- jelly boned wimp wussed out. But what annoyed her the most was that he didn’t even have the nerve to quit the training; he’d just always take the blindfold off right away. The whole point was to teach him you can’t just learn Earthbending you have to live it- like she lives it every day. She thought the Avatar of all people would get that. But what really made her angry was Aang had the gall to be surprised when she didn’t talk to him for the rest of the week. He kept trying to snake his way back onto her good side. Ha, like that would ever work. Then, Katara got involved, just like Toph figured she had to get involved in everything, and the next thing Toph knew, she was listening to a speech about how she had to work through her problems… ‘Her problems’ she’d scoffed at the time, ‘Seeing’ really must be a great thing if it’s why those dorks never learned to use their ears properly. She wound up playing along for the sake of a quiet life, but the truth was the ‘problem’ Katara helped fix wasn’t the real problem, just the thing she assumed was wrong and didn’t have the sense to ask otherwise. But that was for the best really, as Toph wouldn’t, couldn’t admit the real problem, because the truth was… It hurt… and she didn’t even want to admit to herself how much it did. She shared the one thing she had that no one else did. The one thing that she thought made her special, made her the greatest Earthbender- and was the whole reason she was training him in the first place, and she did it with the hopes someone could finally understand… and he couldn’t bare being like her, even for just two days. Whenever she found a rare quiet moment to simply be alone with her thoughts, the reasons she decided to go with Aang would often find her, swirling around in her head, buzzing until she was forced to swat them down with the same tired justifications. But the real truth was, when she ran away from home, she wasn’t running away from her parents themselves. She was running away from the chance that they were right, and in the end, no matter what she said or did, she was still just some little blind girl, lacking something important- and that she always would be. Even after years of going behind her parent’s back she’d finally gotten the chance to show them she wasn’t the girl they thought she was. But even after proving it to them, they still didn’t change their minds and she didn’t know if that was them being stubborn or if their really was something they could ‘see’ that she couldn’t. In the end, she ran away because, no matter the answer, she had to find out for herself… … ‘Urgh, stupid silence…’ Toph thought as a hiss escaped between her teeth. Her stride waned in anticipation as she kicked at another of the many large stones protruding out from the soil. The stone shattered with a dull crack and she paused to savour the tiny sensations that followed as the fragments left the empty void over her head and touched her senses again. But the tiny vibrations and faint echoes soon gave way to the numb ache of her tired feet and dull silence that filled her ears like a thick glue. She was really growing to hate that silence. When she was trapped at home, playing the role of her parent’s helpless little blind girl, she’d often found herself welcoming a quiet moment where she could just listen to the world. The soft sounds of nature often blended together into a sonnet that she grew to enjoy… and it also meant she would often catch the odd bit of conversation that the speaker wouldn’t want her to hear. But now, as she followed Zuko further and further into who knows where, all she had to listen to was her own thoughts. Normally that too was fine with her, as she often put it, she prefers intelligent conversation. But ever since last night, and she was wrapped in whatever loose visage of sleep it offered, she’d done all she could block them out with any weak distraction she could muster. The same thought kept rolling over her tired mind. Every minute, every hour it just kept rolling in and out like the tide, wearing away a little more of her resolve each time and when it returned this final time, the sickly taste of bile followed it and rolled across her tongue. Just one dumb, blind mistake and she would have drowned if that mistake hadn’t dragged someone along with her. She still didn’t make sense of what happened. She only figured that Zuko was too angry with her to fill her in… or he really didn’t know. She wasn’t sure which one she hoped was true. Aang was still who knows where, and the stupid comet was today! The only thing that stopped her from completely flipping out was the hope- and that’s all it was, Aang hadn’t stumbled across that stupid fountain after going for a swim and wound up stuck here as well… She knew Twinkle Toes had done something like that before… She ground her teeth. But Zuko was right- despite how rare such a thing was for him. They had to focus on getting back… and just hope that when they did there was somewhere to go back too. She just had to keep thinking positive. Even if they didn’t get back in time to help, the others would find Aang, he would stomp the Fire-lord all over the four kingdoms, and then she, Aang and Zuko could spend the next five years apologising for making Katara so worried. She’d… just have to trust Zuko… she… needed his help… ‘Urrrrgh’ Just thinking that made her grind her teeth… At least Zuko seemed to know what he was doing, even if she couldn’t help notice a strange feebleness to his voice whenever he spoke… She knew Zuko blamed her, at least a little bit; she knew she would in his place, and the thought of him blowing up in her face kept her mouth shut, even if it kept her locked in this grating silence. She ground her teeth harder and seethed… She hated this. It made her feel like the little helpless blind girl her parents always told her she was, and she could all but hear their contemptuous voices repeating it at the back of her mind. She paused as Zuko came to a stop at the edge of a shallow slope. She felt the urge to break her self-imposed silence, but paused. The dull thrum of Zuko’s heartbeat suddenly began to quicken. A heartbeat was a curious thing. They would speak to her in their own way, tell her things that their owners didn’t want her to know… like when they were lying. But Zuko’s had stopped speaking to her… it was shouting in Panic… Something Zuko almost never gave off. Once again, her own world offered no answer; her senses ended a short way down the incline. So once again… she found her gritting her teeth at the thought of asking for help…. And with one last silent growl, she swallowed her pride and curled her lips back. “Zuko…” she knew the word left her mouth, but the wind took it before it even reached her own ears. “Zuko!” This time it reached her ears, and his, the twitch through the soil proved it. But her patience groaned as he still didn’t move. Not one to like being left out, and with her patience already frayed she stomped over to Zuko and gave his arm a retch back. “Zuko! What’s wrong? Your heart’s about to jump out your head, what do you see!?” She still didn’t find an answer, just a slight shudder up her leg as the sound of clanging metal filled her ears and she felt the metal of his swords contact the dirt. She felt her nerves Fray a little more “Come on, Zuko.  You’re weirding me out” she murmured in one last time in a rare moment of weakness. There was still no answer. That was it, her patience cracked and on a single impulse, she took the sword in her hands and savoured the ache that rang up her arm as she let the wooden scabbard rattle off the back of Zuko’s head. Her last effort finally earned a reaction, and she heard a sharp snarl as Zuko’s trance came to an end and she felt the swords get ripped from her grasp. She sucked in a shallow breath, “You OK hothead? You kind of zoned out there for a while.” She asked with a slightly stronger voice. She heard Zuko suck in a breath of his own, shaky and shallow just like her own, one which instantly drowned out the abhorrent drum of a heart with the chime of warning bells… “I’m fine” he said. She didn’t need to listen to his heart to tell that he was lying… Zuko was never ‘Fine’; ever. She was about to call him out on it when Zuko spoke again. “We’re wasting time,” he said as his voice regained some of its strength “The towns just down there” She just stayed put and crossed her arms in defiance. “I’m fine” Zuko muttered half-heartedly and she just stood there; arms still crossed, before slamming a foot down a moment after he didn’t react. A soft growl touched her ear. “Fine,” Zuko said “I thought I saw something but it’s probably just the sun getting to me.” She could hear him give one last growl and the strain of something as he messed around with the sword. She guessed he was trying to fix it to his waist, but she didn’t get long to guess as he sharply turned around and started towards the ridge again. “So…” she said in a quiet but deadpan tone “Your heart nearly goes pop, and you say it’s just the sun. That some stupid fire bender thing, or is it just you?” “It’s nothing” Zuko murmured. Toph let out a scoff, far for convinced “You’re a worse liar than Katara... You saw something, and when you want to tell me what that ‘something’ is I’ll be right here.” “It was just the sun…” Zuko said, a little more forceful this time, and again she didn’t need her Earthbending to know that he was lying, but this time, it was her ears that told her as she picked up one final, almost silent murmur ‘At least I hope it is’ … Just outside Appaloosa, 9: 47 AM With a tired breath, Zuko stared blankly at the long wisp of smoke wiping up from behind a slight rise in the ground. Just over half an hour had passed since his eyes first caught sight of it and the almost desperate sense of relief its presence offered him had long since died. No matter how long he followed it, the town it promised always seemed to be just one more mile- just one more hill rise away and this one seemed to be no different. The muscles in his legs protested every forced step, but he’d long since grown numb to the burning ache at the edge of his limbs. And after half an hour of walking in complete silence, he’d all but fallen into a trance. Walk for a few minutes, notice the silence and shoot a panicked glance behind him to make sure his travel partner was actually still following. Then grumble silently when said girl let out an amused scoff. The next rise in the landscape drew a little closer, and he took a moment to try and rub the fatigue out of his eyes with the back of his hand. He wasn’t sure if he still welcomed the uneasy silence they’d settled into. He’d all but relished it at first, but the longer it was draped over them the less it felt like a calming blanket, now it felt like he was standing near a coiled viper. The air seemed to radiate with a tense charge, one that grew ever worse the slower Toph chose to walk and the polite amount of personal space shared between them grew ever wider. Then there was that thing he saw… Zuko violently shook the thought from his head...and instantly regretted the action as the welt on the back of his head began to sing. Clumsily, he raked his hand through his hair and let his palm settled back over his eyes, hoping to keep the ache from spreading to them. That was the main reason he let the silence be. Given the tension in the air, he did not want to risk inviting another welt to keep the first one company. Not today, and not until the sun stopped feeling so… wrong.   His hand fell away from his eyes and pushed at the pack on his back, adjusting its weight away from the ache in his shoulder. His hand caught a familiar weight- the book. Zuko’s mind stopped as a memory flashed through it. A small rise in the ground… A strange hat sitting above two huge eyes staring right through him… A Shape, launching itself up from the rise… that same shape flying away…  A shot of pain in the back of his head… He shook his head, again, ignoring the sharp ache the action invited. No, that was foolish. He’d seen enough strange creates on his travels. Someone’s weird pet had probably just gotten loose and he’d spooked it. But what about the book…’ his mind seemed to taunt him.   Zuko snarled and his hand went back over his eyes. He was growing to hate that stupid book. Yes, something weird had happened, but it was no different than the usual stuff that being around the Avatar seemed to attract. No. He would find the town, get his bearings and- Zuko jumped back with a sudden flinch as his foot seemed to miss the ground beneath him, and he pulled himself back from the crest of the hill rise. His palm sprung away from his face and a shallow breath immediately chased after it. Steadying himself, Zuko glowered down at the slight incline which had almost robbed him of his balance… only too look up and lose his breath again. Nestled within a large expanse of flat land was a loose cluster of wooden buildings that stretched out in two straight lines running parallel to each other, along with a few other buildings loosely scatter behind them. Each one was different and Zuko’s immediately found his eyes drawn to a large red tower sitting off to the side. Zuko let out a heavy sigh as a sense of euphoria seemed to follow it. If it had been any other day, he probably would have scowled at the peasant-esque buildings, but today, each one may as well have been a palace. Zuko couldn’t help but let a smile spread across his face as the gnawing sense of unease seemed to lift from his mind… only to twist itself into an errant serpent and the wind hissing passed his ears almost began to take on the sound of  its twisted, mocking laughter. The town seemed all but deserted… Zuko felt his temper rise. He couldn’t see anyone. Not a single person going about their business…It was almost like the horrible silence had following them from the mountains and descended over each building like a dull shroud before they even reached it, leaving only the glare of the sand and the sound of the wind sharply whistling between the buildings to greet them. Zuko violently shook the thought from his head as his mantra of ‘it’s just the sun’ passed through his mind. He rubbed tiredly at his scarred eye with the back of his palm to ease its weary ache and he turned to his traveling companion, hoping she could see something -anything he’d missed. The thought withered the second he caught sight of her milky white eyes, staring impotently at the ground before of her feet. Zuko let his own gaze fall as a sudden, poignant moment of clarity settled across his mind. ‘Half blind leading the blind’ he grumbled. With another tired inhale, Zuko let the glare of the sun soak into his skin. Its glow still felt strange. But the hollow, almost itchy feeling it cast across his skin worked to push him forward all the same as the usual empowering glow that filled his breath with warmth. “Hey Zuko… I’m getting a bad feeling here.” It was just a shame he didn’t get three steps before a weak call dragged him back, and he turned around to find Toph, standing with a demeanour far from the aura of confidence that usually surrounded her. To be honest, Zuko found a strange comfort in the fact that the smothering sense of unease didn’t seem to be only lingering over him. But on the other hand… it wasn’t just lingering over him… Zuko cautiously licked at his dry lips, “You got anything you want to tell me?” he asked, hoping to mimic the same grating tone Toph’s voice had held earlier. If the girl picked up on it, she didn’t betray that fact. Instead, she just stood there, wordlessly, but when Zuko felt the urge to speak again, she dropped to one knee and silently placed her palm onto the ground. With a curious air, he watched her stay like that for a few seconds, only allowing her face to scrunch up as any indication of her actions, and just as Zuko felt another urge to speak, Toph spoke. “I can feel things walking around” she said carefully, a strange… apprehension present in her tone “But they don’t really feel right…” “What do you mean they don’t feel right?” Zuko asked, and his tired mind stopped his tongue from continuing a second before it was too late “…Are they walking on their hands?” “No” Toph answered, again seemingly missing, or ignoring Zuko’s biting tone “I think they’re walking on their legs… All four of them…” The second Zuko heard that, the same memory from before flashed through his mind again. He answered it by gritting his teeth and letting a snarl pass through them. “Are you sure?” he asked in all seriousness, but his question only found him a finger prodded accusingly into his chest. “Hey, I don’t question your eyes,” Toph snapped with another poke, this time to Zuko’s forehead “Don’t you question the feet. They see a lot better then you ninnies. Why don’t you just use those eyes of yours and tell me I’m right!” When he felt the finger jab at his forehead again, Zuko wanted to feel annoyed, but he just couldn’t seem to muster the energy… so muttering weakly under his breath, he admitted.  “I can’t…” “Well then!” Toph’s voice swelled with triumph, only to suddenly falling flat again. “…What, why?” she asked. “I mean.” Zuko interrupted- his tone strangely even “I haven’t seen anyone since we got here.” Toph grew silent and began to idly grate the back of her hand against her chin. With an indifferent sniff she let the hand fall away. “Think it’s an ambush?” she asked almost sarcastically. Zuko put a hand to the ridge of his nose and squeezed. He didn’t think that was the case, but again, his mouth betrayed him as he spoke before thinking. “Maybe… But we can’t go back. We don’t even have a clue where we are and we won’t last long without food, and…” “And if it is an ambush, it’s their butts, right?” Toph interrupted, cupping a palm and hitting it with the other fist. The action almost earned a tired smile from Zuko, but he obscured it with a shake of his head. The two of them set off again, and Zuko couldn’t help but noticed that Toph was walking closer than before. Not that he could do- or really cared to do anything more than just notice it. But as the town drew closer he felt himself holding onto the hilt of his sword, like a child clinging to a stuffed toy, his thumb curled like a viper behind the hand guard. He could see the strange metal lines they had been following cut through the town, but Zuko had stepped away from them, trying to keep as much distance as he could between the buildings opposite him as possible. The buildings drew closer, and a familiar feeling crept up his spine, the same one you get when you feel like you’re being watched, and while that feeling under normal circumstances could make some clutch the hilt of their sword tighter, Zuko felt a well of pain rise up through his fingers as the wooden handle seemed to deform slightly. It was just a good thing the hilt was strong… because… if it wasn’t, what he saw when he brought his eyes up would have cost him his fingers… Awkwardly squatting on a low wooden stool was the most twisted creature Zuko had ever laid his eyes on. Bulbous stumpy limbs hung clumsily over a sitting stool centred in a lumpy barrel like body that bled into a thick neck. Perched atop was a round swollen head half obscured by a low hanging bonnet like hat that rested just above its eyes… Its eyes… Oh, by his father, its eyes! He swore each were almost the size of his own head, and they fixed him with a vacuous almost glazed stare. But even worse, as he gazed back into those blank dull eyes he could swear, somewhere inside, he saw a familiar spark. The small glint you see when you look into the eyes of a person, a spark that was twisted and stretched over something else. Like a thin veil of familiarity awkwardly strained over something alien like a thin mask… He wanted to look away; he wanted to just turn his head in disgust. But something inside took hold and forced him to keep his eyes on it, and welded his hand to his sword. “Zuko, you ok?” the voice came from behind him and Zuko tore his eyes away to give a panicked glance at the source. It was Toph with the closest thing to a concerned look she could hold on her face but it was evident in her tone, despite her steady posture. “Seriously you almost had another heart attack there, what’s wrong?” Toph barked, and Zuko could only look back at the… thing just sat there, fixing him with the same lingering stare. He tried to say something but when his eyes where once again locked with the creatures the words froze in his throat, and he only managed to utter a weak almost seething whisper “look!” Toph snorted “You’re going to have to help me out here.” Zuko sucked in a deep breath through his teeth to centre himself. “On the porch,” He whispered through his teeth eyes still bleeding with the creatures. “There’s something… Suddenly, a flicker of movement caught his eyes as one of its strange bulbous limbs lifted from its side clumsily and… waved at him, its lips peeling back into a smile that almost made his own lips curl in disgust. “There something what, what’s it doing?” Toph asked quickly sensing there reaction and Zuko twitched before he whispered again. “It’s… waving…” Zuko couldn’t pull his eyes away even as Toph seemed to choke on the air in her lungs; the sound turned into a deep mocking scoff “Well then wave back.” Zuko ground his teeth as he kept staring. It was almost like this girl didn’t hear a word he said… He didn’t know what it was, the fatigue, his rising anger, or even the dumb absurdity of the situation, but Zuko found his left arm- not the right which was still occupied with trying to merge with the handle of his sword, dumbly rose up and mimicked the creature’s action. And when he looked back at the… whatever it was, the creeping repulsion walling up in his throat seemed ease somewhat- if only because a look of surprise and recognition suddenly sparkled in its eyes as he walked on by. ‘Urgh its eyes’ Zuko pulled his own eyes away one last time, and when he did, he noticed that the creature wasn’t alone. There was another sitting just to the side of it. This one was brown and had a blue vest like those performing animals he’d seen in Ba-Sing-Si. Deciding to get as far away as possible he turned with one last lingering glance and a shuddered thought passed through his head as the twisted creatures passed from sight. ‘Some people keep the weirdest pets…’ Zuko scowled as he kept walking and his mind kept twirling around that one thought. If there are pets their owners couldn’t be too far away… A part of him thought about going to that building where those… things owners must be, but no matter how desperate he was he would rather not meet someone who would keep something like that as a pet. Not when there was a whole town to choose from at least. “Let’s get a move on” Toph spoke, suddenly cutting Zuko off from his thoughts “No matter how much I want too, even I can’t eat dirt” Ok, could agree with that and the feeling of his stomach eating itself helped push him forward a little faster. But the town was still far too quiet for his liking. So as the space they entered grew further and further away, Zuko couldn’t help it when his eyes began to dart back and forth, scanning for anything or anyone who could take him by surprise. Zuko’s eyes picked up on something else familiar; it was another strange sense of foreboding unwelcome he tasted in the air at the time he was traveling alone through the earth kingdom. How dusty that memory felt now…  It almost made sense in that moment. They were both wearing fire nation clothes and even if the villagers recognised him, any one from an earth kingdom town would give a fire nation citizen a wide berth. They were all probably just sitting in their buildings praying he kept walking. But despite that line of thought bringing with it the obvious question of ‘how on earth they could have ever ended up all the way back in the earth kingdom? Something seemed really wrong here. All the buildings looked to be made of wood, something no one in the earth kingdom would do… ‘Not if they had the money, and not after 100 years of war with the fire nation- that was just asking to waste your week rebuilding it again. He’d heard of some towns where fire nation soldiers held for ransom with that very threat. But this one felt different. As he passed them, Zuko kept getting fleeting glimpses of something- Pairs of eyes staring at him through the buildings windows, always just at the edge of his peripheral vision and always gone when his gaze shifted to follow their lure. His little theory made him expect that, but the eyes seemed off but at the same time, as of five minutes ago, all too familiar. “I’m really starting to doubt this idea…” Zuko muttered under his breath, and heard Toph let out a snort behind him. But, despite his ever more tense nerves, he kept going forward- and just meant not a single one of the buildings he passed went without his scrutiny. One pass made him do a double take, and when it finally clicked he stopped dead and a hand flicked up for Toph to do the same. Nestled between two of the building was a mass of bronze in the shape of another weird creature. A huge slab of bronze with four legs rooting up towards a towering, arched back and two very large horns jutted out what looked to be the side of its thick dome like head. At its side was one of the… big eyed ‘creatures’, also made of bronze. The whole thing seemed to be made to a realistic scale… that did not help Zuko’s fraying nerves. To the right of the statue something caught Zuko’s agitated attention. One of the creatures was sitting out in the open, a very large sheet of paper in front of it as it kept glancing at him through the corner of its oversized eye. After a second he recognised the Silver Star perched on its mis sized vest. It seemed that this was the same one sat at the mouth of the town with the other…Zuko felt his stomach lurch as he came to an unwelcome conclusion. It was following him… Zuko pressed his thumb against the blade guard and he turned to Toph. “You know I’m really starting to dislike this idea” he said slowly, the words seething through gritted teeth. Toph seemed apathetic, “Yea, I doubt all your ideas Zuko…” she replied as she pushed on past him and began to walk further into the town with her usual confidence- a confidence Zuko noted other blind people could only dream off. But once again he also noticed her movements marred by that same strange unease, and a frown seeding itself on Zuko’s face again as he set off to follow her. A couple more buildings passed by and Zuko caught something out of the edge of his vision. Nestled between two of the wooden corners, that same, strange creature was peering at him. He made sure not to react to it, but he felt his thumb almost instinctually flick up at the guard of his sword. “Toph…” he said quietly “Do you see, feel, whatever- do you know if any people are around here?” Toph’s face twitched and she ‘frowned’- or her features scrunched together at least in the closest approximation of one, something that didn’t fill Zuko with confidence… and he found even less when she simply answered “No…” Zuko felt his eye twitch, “No? What do you mean no?” he asked with another pained whisper he has to push through his teeth. “You asked, and I don’t know.” Toph hissed back. “I can’t feel a single person walking around since we got here, not one. I just keep finding these weird things with four legs that run away whenever we get close.” And just like that, Zuko felt the wood of his scabbard give a little. But, despite everything, the trek up the road had almost gained a monotonous quality as building after building drifted by; in spite of it though his eyes had meticulously bounced to each one… As he passed, Zuko noticed a group of small wooden carts sitting in a small space lying between two of the buildings. They looked like the market carts scattered around the earth kingdom but much smaller, and unlike those however Zuko could easily look over their cloth coverings. ‘Finally’ Zuko sighed. The thought came like a breath of air… ‘Now to just find the people’ His mind paused but he shook it clear “-running the market, get what we need, then get out of here...’ At this point none of those goals could come fast enough for Zuko. And after shooting a glance over to Toph he set off towards the nearest stall. When he took his seventh step, his eyes caught movement and they swung around and took in a familiar sight. The creature that was sitting on the stool, wearing that small yellow bonnet- The ridge of it moved, and he once again was caught within the gaze of those same smothering eyes…. Zuko had to suppress another shudder as his grip tightened on the sword and a deep, primal feeling repulsion began to squirm behind his own eyes. Zuko had seen stranger creatures in his travels, creatures that you could look at and find death itself hidden in their eyes. But something about this creature was just... wrong….In its eyes, Zuko didn’t find reason to fear, he found… confusion, some strange hint of wonder, and the same fear that mirrored his own, and in the end that’s what really unnerved him. Unlike fears that where echoes of simple threat, this was something deeper. Something he couldn’t put into words but it was still something primal, something that made him cling to his sword in a way no other creature ever had. The thought of simply turning on his heel and walking back out into the desert welled back up into the front of his mind. But, again, Zuko tried to push it down. He didn’t have a choice. They reached the mass of wooden carts and Zuko gave a passing glance back to where he saw the creature, then back to Toph, “Keep watch…” he said without even a hint of irony in his voice. Not even giving chance to hear her sarcastic response, Zuko began navigating among the mass of carts, idly scanning each one and finding most completely bare, or simply closed up. One of them was neither; instead, it had a litter of strange objects covering its surface and drooped over the sides by rope, none of which were objects Zuko could put a name too. With a curious eye, Zuko began to scan the table but didn’t really get anything for the effort. Only a moment to ‘admire’ weird, contorted pieces of metal lying in small piles…. Tools, he guessed from the fact that some of them looked vaguely familiar if not… off. It was almost like they weren’t made for people… Zuko shook his head again. A straw doll was propped up against the side of the cart. It seemed to be a rough approximation of one of the creatures. It stared at him with a pair of blank, glass like eyes. Zuko pulled his eyes away and suppressed a shudder. ‘I really need to get out of the sun…’ he thought with a grumble. That thought was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling, and his eyes shifted to a cart holding a mound of apples. His stomach growled again. ‘OK. Food first, then shade…’ He took an uneasy step towards the cart, but as his leg swung around the back of his boot snagged on something, and his eye flicked around to jab it loose with his sword. And saw a flicker of colour behind him… Time stopped, a white flash of panic washed out the world, and forced him to swing around, his hand gripping at his swords. But when he looked all he found was the building behind him. “Zuko, Don’t move…” he heard Toph’s voice, and the words broke Zuko’s attention away from the empty space and his eyes darted around to meet the girl and found her facing him with her palms lifted out towards him… When he followed her hand down what Zuko saw almost made him finish drawing his sword there and then. Right as his feet sat one of the creatures, its eyes staring right into his own. Just Staring… A reflexive flick of his thumb had brought the base of steel into daylight. But something stopped his right hand, and the sword from going any further. These eyes were just as suffocating as the other ones and its proportions where even more ridiculous… but, unlike the other ones, this creature's eyes held something different. In its eyes there was no awe, no fear, just…wanting and as Zuko looked on, that same feeling of repulsion began to squirm and writhe. But it was only its eyes that held that effect on him. The small ribbon around its neck made the creature seem just… odd more than anything else. Zuko let his sword slid all the way back into its guard, but he kept his hand fixed on it. He studied the creature for a very long moment; its lower lip was pushed out, and it still held that look of wanting on its face. His original shock -and to be completely honest, repulsion, had dulled to confusion interspersed by a deep sense of discomfort. As he was studying it the creature’s eyes shifted away from him and seemed to drift to one of the carts behind him. And with a very controlled pace, Zuko slowly moved his gaze around to glance at the cart, and when he did he found one covered in apples. He turned back to the creature who had increased the wanting look, to the point its creepy eyes were all most sparkling, and its lower lip was trembling weakly. Giving once last glance to the cart, Zuko lifted his hand slowly and scooped one of the apples into his grasp before slowly lowering it down. The creature squeaked something and took the apple straight out of his hand with its teeth, the action forcing Zuko to suppress a flinch. But despite himself, a smile tugged at Zuko’s lips. The same kind of smile that appears when you hear a rustling in the bushes and feel your teeth curl, only to find your panic dissolve as a rabbit jumps out to greet you- not that he would ever admit such an event ever happened. Letting his eyes drift back up and pass over to check Toph, Zuko suddenly noticed that some of the other creatures had begun to gather a small distance away. They appeared to be…smiling? Well, that’s what it looked like at least, and Zuko was inclined to take whatever silver lining he could find in this current situation… So, yes, they were smiling. Zuko shuddered. He would have been worried about the growing number of creatures, but for some reason he wanted to give Toph a smug grin for some sense of victory he didn’t really understand. But when he looked into her milky white eyes the smirk melted away into another frown. Even if he didn’t know why it was there, being robbed of a sense of victory always soured his mood. The presence of his little audience seemed to click in Zuko’s mind and, deciding to end this little escapade on a high note, he gave one last glance too the carts and turned away, allowing himself only a single glance back to make sure Toph was following. ‘Forget this’ Zuko thought with a sense of finality ‘I’d rather take my chances in the desert.’ That sense of finality built and Zuko turned back around…  and almost jumped again when he found himself looking into the face of one of the creatures, one that was suddenly blocking his path. Unlike the others, Zuko found no curiosity or fear in this creature’s eyes. All he could see was annoyance, tainted by some lingering twinge of offence all of which being projected straight at him. There were a lot of words Zuko could put to these creatures, most of which would be a variation of weird, but for someone who had stared the masters in the face intimidating was not a word that jumped into his mind. And when he saw the creature flinch under his own almost reflexive glare that indescribable sense of unease started to pass again, leaving only a growing sense of confusion, and annoyance in its wake. The annoyance grew even more as Zuko noticed several new pairs of oversized, smothering eyes had gathered, with even more appearing through nearby doorways and windows. He cast one last glance over to Toph, and found her arms crossed with an expression as blank as slate. The little pot of annoyance inside him bubbled as he flitted between the creature and Toph’s almost impassive expression, ‘Does she even know there’s a problem?’ Zuko seethed ‘And how am I supposed to do anything if that stupid grin is the only expression she has?’ A sudden snort of air from the creature drew his attention back as it started mimicking an action Zuko had only seen from a komodo rhino. Its head was lowered as one of its limbs beat at the ground and as the display drew on Zuko slowly let his other hand drift towards the hilt of his sword, his eyes slowly narrowing. “Zuko, don’t be an idiot.”  Zuko flinched Toph’s voice filled his ear, but he didn’t take his eyes off the creature, even though it did and cast an annoyed but cautious looking glance at her. Soon enough Zuko’s eyes followed and he found Toph facing him with her arms coming together and rest across her chest, the same blank look obscured by her low hanging hairline. “Don’t do something stupid, Zuko…” Toph spoke again with a deadpan tone. “What do you mean?” Zuko seethed back under his breath “It’s the one who started glaring at me; I don’t even know what it wants.” “Maybe it’s mad because you gave to the other one something that didn’t belong to you?” Toph inquired with a chastising deadpan… Zuko’s eye twitched, that sounded so stupid it made sense. “You saw that? “He asked with a quiet voice. Toph snickered “Nope. But you did it anyway.” Setting off with a, slow confident gait, Toph moved towards the creature, whose face seemed to switch from angry to curious.    Zuko’s hand tightened on the sword as Toph came to a halt a few feet away from the creature and reached inside her clothing. The creature flinched subtlety, but seemed to relax as Toph held out little brown bag in her palm. Twisting her hand over, she let some of the contents spill out into her other waiting hand with a soft metal *Tink* and Zuko watched with a baffled expression as the girl just sauntered straight up to the creature and held out her hand, and the coins to it. The creature’s ear flicked under a hat Zuko suddenly noticed was there, and its limb lifted into the air to meet the hand. Toph’s grip slackened and several small pieces of gold fell into its- Zuko still wasn’t sure what to call it… ‘Limb?’ and the creature stared at the gold pieces it was just given as Toph turned around, and Zuko was forced to watch as she flashed him that same smug grin. Zuko’s eye twitched as it took in the scene. He could almost hear the sound of her voice gloating, and the thought made him sigh, ‘They’ll be no living with her after this’ The thought brought Zuko’s fingers to the bridge of his nose, and, because of that action he still doesn’t really know what happened next. All he remembers is a low huff of air, a screech of pain, and the sight of Toph kneeling on the floor with her hands clutched to her face as the creature stomped angrily towards her…That, and the terrified expression on its face as it suddenly found itself staring up at him between the blades of his swords… Zuko glared down at the creature as Toph got back to her feet, a hand still pressed to her eye. “Zuko?” Toph’s voice broke his glare, before it turned into a shrill yell “What the heck are you doing?” The confusion in her voice was contagious and Zuko’s anger was snuffed out and his eyes momentarily flicked away from the creature. “Saving you” He snapped “what does it look li-” The last word was snatched away by the rancid taste of soil, and the world around him gave way to a sting of pain as Instinct drove his hands to shed hold of his swords to cover his burning eyes, impotently trying to claw the burning away. “ZUKO!!!!”   The shriek made Zuko drag his hands from his eyes and over his ears. But as fast as it came, the shriek died as the ground gave way to a sudden shudder. A dull boom followed and Zuko’s hands clasped tighter to his head the second before his balance was ripped from him. In that second, he found his swords again as they were caught between the ground and his knees. And with a pained snarl, he raked the back of his hand over his eyes, and forced them open… only to find the air around him had become swollen with dust. A shadow to his side caught Zuko’s still burning eyes, and the air was suddenly striped of the dust and revealed Toph standing in front of where the creature once stood; a pillar of earth in its stead. Zuko yelled through the dust, shaking the girl out of her stupor this time with an almost frantic tone. “Toph?! What are you doing?” “Saving you!” the words spat back at him with venom Zuko swore he could almost taste. But just as he was about to spit something back, a sudden call cut through the dust. “Ello?” It was strange, almost musical in the way it sounded and more of them soon followed as the owners began to cast silhouettes across the shroud of dust- and with them came the all too familiar glint of metal. Zuko gripped his swords again and took a steadying breath; his hands began to ache with the waiting fire. It still felt strange. It even hurt but it was still there. He in took another breath and felt the heat burn through his veins and he watched the silhouette’s twist through the shroud. He waited for the right moment… “Zuko” He flinched as a sudden voice touched his ear, the very last voice he ever expected to hear today. The fire in his hands fell away as Zuko turned to look the owner of the voice in the eye… “…Uncle?” Sure enough, when he turned his head Zuko saw his uncle glaring at him with a disapproving expression. Zuko blinked. His uncle stared back at him then began to speak with a tone, Zuko recognised all too well. “What have I told you, prince Zuko? You’re about to jump head long, at an unknown enemy, while you are tired…. And you do it with a blind partner you barely know anything about… ARE YOU TRYING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?” Zuko gave off the slightest flinch in the face of the blunt, chastising yell and he looked on at his uncle with a bewildered expression. “These creatures may seem harmless. But appearances can be deceptive. It is better to fight battles you know you can win, and only then do so if avoiding the fight at all is not an option… You will get nothing from this, Prince Zuko…” Zuko blinked again as his uncle crossed his arms and looked at him with a supportive expression… And Zuko just stared back… “What am I still doing here!? Get going!” Zuko felt his eye twitch, and when they fixed back on the spot his uncle was gone. Another glint of light cut through the dust and his eyes caught more of the shadows etching closer.  Zuko shook his head and threw the sword back into their sheath. “We need to move!” he yelled into the shroud. At his yell, Toph paused before she raised her hands above her head and brought them down sharply. But instead of the reaction Zuko was expecting, and braced himself for, the cloud of dust split, revealing the confused faces of the approaching creatures. Each one of them was wrapped around some kind of mock farm tool, the wood and blades just as mal-proportioned as they creatures who held them. With another yell, Zuko set of running down the road a shot a glance back at Toph, only to see a group of the creatures following close behind. Zuko scowled. The creatures were gaining on them and with only a few hours of sleep the previous night under his belt; he didn’t like their chances of pushing their pace any further. So, with a long, sharp breath, he let out a sharp yell and sent a stream of flame towards them. The creatures let out a panicked shriek before scattering as the flame rolled over their heads, and with one final yell, Zuko brought down hands with a sudden jolt. A sharp whine filled the air as a wave of flame flowed up from the ground, curling in on itself before twisting into a thick wall of smoke. Letting out a hiss as a sharp twinge shot down his arm, Zuko ran into the waiting cloud of dust floating behind Toph. Now all he only had to figure out where they were running to…. …